9.6 million Sony Xperia smartphones shipped in Q2

Today, Sony announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30 – meaning Q2 for most of us. Among other things, the Japanese company unveiled that it shipped 9.6 million Xperia Android smartphones around the world. That’s the highest number of Xperias ever shipped in a quarter, representing a 30% growth over Q2 2012, and an 18% growth over Q1 2013.

According to Sony, not only the number of units was increased, but also the average selling price of its smartphones. This further confirms the success of high-end handsets like the waterproof Xperia Z.

Of course, 9.6 million smartphones sold is still not enough to grant Sony a place in top five smartphone vendors. But it’s really close. Sony can enter the top in Q3 if sales will go up, and the major Chinese smartphone makers (ZTE, Huawei, Lenovo) won’t manage to match its performance. Sure enough, Sony also has to look out for Nokia, which shipped 7.4 million Lumia smartphones in Q2.

Q3 looks promising for Sony anyway, as the new, ultra-thin Xperia Z Ultra (pictured above) is certainly capable of standing next to Samsung’s Galaxy Note, or any other giant smartphone out there. The Z Ultra is already out in some markets, and will see a wider global availability starting this month.